Tag Archives: Escaping the Ego

Transmuting Guilt

Guilt has been coming up for so many of us lately. As we live in the energies of the recent solar eclipse for the next several months we are being asked to look at our shadow sides or the parts of ourselves that we would rather not be there. I decided I would look up the official definition of guilt; it is defined as “the fact of having committed a specific or implied defense”. And there are times when each of us has felt guilty for something that we have done or not done or that we wish we could do differently. I think this is a human emotion to encourage living in integrity. Guilt is however an emotion to be experienced, not lived in.

The dictionary also had an informal definition of guilt, used as a verb; “make (someone) feel guilty, especially in order to induce them to do something.” So often we have been taught by life to feel guilty for so many things, in ways that do not really make sense, logically.  How many of us can look back at family history and see that guilt was the weapon of choice used by so many families for generation after generation. Or can look back and see that the choices made from guilt lead us to dark, heavy, difficult experiences.

The reality is that no matter how we experience guilt, it can keep us stuck. Let’s look at how that works. Guilt is a lower vibrational feeling. So, when we allow ourselves to sit down in guilt, to become overwhelmed by regret or shame, we are lowering our vibration. Which keeps us from being able to see from a higher perspective, making it much more difficult to find the momentum of change and growth.

These heavy energies can get stuck on our emotional bodies and cause a host of physical and mental challenges. Because guilt is an emotion that is experienced in the moment, when guilt becomes a way of life it manifests as depression, shame, unworthiness, self-sabotage and more. When we repeatedly feel guilty for our thoughts, feelings, opinions or actions; we begin to question our own agency or ability to make valid choices, our worthiness to be loved and accepted, our value.

Guilt and shame is also a tool used by the mind (or ego) to keep things the same, safe, comfortable and familiar. Yes, even though guilt is an uncomfortable feeling, it is known, we know what to expect and what is expected from us…. The reason our minds want us to stay the same is because change is unknowable, uncomfortable, even scary.

The truth is that everything always changes. Nothing ever stays the same. You and I are not the same people we were yesterday. The “idea” that things stay the same is just that, an idea. An illusion created by the mind.

As many of my fellow “Seekers” have experienced, healing, transformation, spiritual growth seems to draw us; it seems to be woven into the fabric of reality; calling our names, beckoning us to surrender to the flow of love that creates the universe through us, as us. If everything changes, why not put our intention and focus on changing in a way that will best serve ourselves and the world.

Working with and letting go of guilt will cause change, it will allow for higher vibrational energies. Those higher vibes will encourage us to see from a higher perspective, from a place of love and compassion, for ourselves and others. Letting go of guilt even seems to deepen the connection to our authentic selves, allowing for a redefining of values, relationships and self-worth. Stepping out of guilt allows for being more present, more open, more at peace and more joy.

As I have walked my own journey I found 5 stones that are helpful in releasing and transmuting guilt.

Peridot –opens, cleanses and activates the heart and solar plexus chakras and releases old hurts, wounds and guilt. It is a stone of compassion. Teaches to detach from outside influences to look within for guidance. Peridot encourages doing the work to release patterns and old vibrations so that a new path or direction can be found. It has a friendly energy and is excellent for healing. It enhances confidence and assertiveness, balanced by patience and clarity of thought.

Larimar – Spiritually empowering, dissolving boundaries that constrain the spiritual self and guiding to the soul’s true path. Larimar removes self-imposed blockages, dissolves self-sabotaging behavior, especially a tendency toward martyrdom. It is particularly helpful with removing guilt and fear while healing trauma to the heart. When moving through periods of stress or change, it enables meeting challenges with balance. Larimar is a stone of clear communication, provides strength and courage to speak openly from the heart.

Chrysocolla – gives renewed strength and balance. Calms, cleans and reenergizes all the chakras and aligns them with the divine. Draws out guilt and reverses destructive emotional programming. Heals heartache and increases the capacity to love. Improves communication, encourages growth and opens psychic vision. Encourages self-awareness and inner balance. Enhances personal power and creativity.

 Chiastolite – Cross Stone – a powerful protective stone. Dissolves illusions, clears feelings of guilt, stabilizes emotions and calms fears, enabling you to face reality. Aids in transition from one situation to another and with releasing unhealthy patterns and conditioning. Aids with problem solving by strengthening analytic capabilities. Assist in tuning into soul’s purpose. Aid in changing negative energy into positive, and fosters harmony and peace. Stimulates and energizes the root chakra as well as the crown chakra. This energy will then aid the activation of both the earth chakra below your feet and the soul star chakra above the head.

Sodalite – instills a drive for truth and an urge toward optimism making it possible to remain true to yourself and stand for your beliefs. It eliminates confusion, fear and guilt. it encourages rational thought, objectivity, truth and intuitive perception together with verbalizing feelings. Sodalite stimulates releasing habitual thoughts, behaviors and limiting beliefs. It also fosters knowledge, logic, rationality, efficiency, learning, consciousness, communication and wisdom.

May these amazing crystals be helpful to you on your journey to transmute guilt, shame and regret.

Much Munay!

Autumn

Comfortably You – Fosters Knowledge, Logic, Rationality, Efficiency, Learning, Consciousness, & Wisdom; Assists with Eliminating Fear, Guilt & Limiting Beliefs; Encourages Open Heart Centered Communication; Enhances Psychic Abilities, Unlocks Spiritual “Seeing”, Balances Emotional, Mental & Spiritual Bodies. Oak, Denim Sodalite, Celestite, Azurite, Apatite & Macaw.

Pink Full Moon Blessing from Pacha Mama, Mama Killa, Blue Star & Me

As we open to the transformational energies that are being ushered in, the beautiful pink full moon reminds us to release what no longer serves. Reminding us that letting go is followed by a filling up.

Last night Mama Killa, our beautiful moon, was full; drawing us near, filling us with awe and wonder.  A symphony of crickets, frogs, hoots, pups and the crackle of the fire provided a healing, cleansing, upgrading melody from Pacha Mama, Mother Earth. A Light Language song from a Blue Star came through to add to the magic.

So, if you feel called, settle in, allow the sounds to carry you inward and be open to revelation, insight and the Love that is always closer than close.

With Munay and Gratitude,

Autumn

Ease and Grace?

Ease and Grace?

Sitting outside, connecting with Pacha Mama, on this 60 degree February morning, marveling at the first glimpses of spring starting to peek out. When a crow caught my attention, cawing, as if to say transformation is at hand. My first thought was Great Spirit let it be with ease and grace please!  And I immediately heard… Why don’t you just choose the easier way, just let go and trust.

Wow! Right? What if I just take the next step that is in front of me? Rather than trying to find another way. Or worrying about “what ifs”. Or concerning myself with how that person might feel or what might happen there. What if I /we just trusted; trusted our self, trusted Spirit.

What if the ease and grace comes from our decisions, our choices. Choosing to stay connected, choosing to follow the nudging and synchronicities. Choosing to let go of things that are not good for us, the people, situations, past hurts, resentments…. Maybe the struggle, the suffering, the confusion comes from trying to figure it all out. From the need to “know”.

Today the crow came to say trust; trust that part of you that is divine, that part that is connected to All That Is. With a beginners mind, take the next step presented and trust. Instead of asking for Ease and Grace, let’s give our selves the freedom to live in ease and grace. Isn’t that who we really are?

Much Munay!

Autumn & My Crow Friend

Remembering Wisdom from the Hawk

A beautiful October day, the leaves are changing colors, it’s the perfect temperature, warm breeze in the air. There is silence everywhere, even amidst all the noise. The water from the sprinkler bringing beautiful birds, chirping joyfully, as they take a quick bath.

I looked up to admire the amazing art work of the creator and in a near by tree was the most beautiful hawk. She was amazing, she looked me in the eye and then flew off. Her wings were stripped at the edges and must have stretched out 4 feet. She didn’t even need to flap, she just seemed to glide though the trees and disappeared.

I caught myself thinking, where’s your nest? I felt her say why do you need to know where my nest is? To which I quiet smirkily replied, so I can connect with you better. She in all her wisdom said “that’s what you’re mind needs, all your soul needs us to connect with me right now to take a deep breath and feel my presence. Feel that there is no separation, only the separation your mind creates. Your mind wants to understand and see and look and have a place to go. Your spirit doesn’t need that.”

So I took a deep breath and connected with that amazing creature. I felt her power, her confidence, her certainty. And perhaps more importantly, I felt the unity. She knows and remembers, always, that she is an intricate part of creation. That she isn’t separate. That the same amazingly powerful creative force that created her, is also in her, actually is her. Just like it is who we really are at our core, beyond all the stories of the mind.

That amazing creature had come to remind me, remind us, that we can stop and take a deep breath, let go of all the thoughts and be right here, right now, in this moment. Leaning into, sensing, looking for that unity, that non-duality. There is no separation. Feel it. Allow yourself to be That.

Right now as I’m writing this and remembering the experience, reliving it, feeling connecting again to that magnificent hawk. Then the thoughts come back. “You can’t write this on your blog. Are you crazy?” And for a moment I lost that unity, that connection. Then I remembered. Oh crazy ego, you really don’t get it do you? Being vulnerable is what makes us human, allows us to have deeper connections. Vulnerability is the cost of Freedom. And isn’t it worth it!!

All we have to do is remembered with our heart. Take a deep breath, again, and connect, feel who we really are.

Much Munay! (Much Love!)
Autumn and Pablo

red-tailed-hawk-pv

Random Musing After Meditation with Gia Cards and Pablo

I am love
Love is what I am
Love is who I am
Love is how I am

At my deepest core, at yours too, is higher consciousness, all that is. The ocean that is  full of individual drops, but together can not be separated. Love, the purpose for our time here. Love, the driving force of the big bang 13.7 billion years ago. Love the force that can, will bring heaven to earth. Love the force that will always be, can not not exist. That is who we are….

Just take a deep breath and contemplate that….melt down into your heart space, feel that love. Love that longs for change and growth. Love that wants to experience ALL of humanities experiences. Love that does not judge, condemn or dismiss. Yet, Love that doesn’t accept less than our best…..

Because Love knows what is best for us, what is best for the world, is for us to live from this deep place of pure love. To strive to create the life we dream of. To not allow ourselves to become stuck playing small, because we are spirit, it is not about us, it’s about all of creation (including us).

Where do we start? By trusting our hearts. Following it’s guidance, listening for its wisdom in all we do. For that whole hearted sensing into what is right, what love is calling for, is what will and is changing the world.

Remember… We are Love! Love is who we are. Love is how we are. Love is what we are. We are Love. Will I choose to be Love today? Will you?

IMG_2297

Wisdom from Serpent on Forgiveness

Outside on this beautiful warm breezy day. Enjoying the beautiful sweet smells of summer. Finally transplanting some cuttings from last year. Deeply connecting with PachaMama, so amazed at feeling of unity with the mother and all of creation. And as I pulled the plant out of its pot, out fell a baby snake. I caught my breath as i studied him, he was beautiful, silvery, maybe 5-6 inches long.

Great Serpent, reminding me to shed the past as he sheds his skin, over and over and over… Sometimes struggling to set himself free, only to continue growing so he can do it again. Holding on to the past keeps us from growing; just as the serpent can’t grow without shedding its skin. Holding on to the past keeps us from being able to see the opportunists right in front of us. Opportunities to grow, to be vulnerable, to truly connect. Opportunities to change the world; right here in our little corner of the world but also by raising our own consciousness we are raising the consciousness of the collective conscious; the part of us that is one with all of creation. Holding on to the past keeps us from being able to see opportunities to mend relationships. It keeps us from finding our passions. Holding on to the past makes us tired, stressed and often physically sick.

The Peruvian Shamans teach that the south direction is the energy of the serpent. A place of shedding our past as the serpent sheds its skin. Other more westernized traditions say the south is the direction of the wounded child. Either way the process is the same, forgiveness. I read a great quote today; “life is much easier if you learn to accept the apology that was never given” R Brault. And he is right! Life does get easier when we forgive.

Remember forgiveness is not something we do for the other, it is something that we give to ourselves; “I will not let what you did keep hurting me over and over”. Forgiveness releases the person doing the forgiving. It does not condone or approve of the behavior, it simply stops the hurt from continuing to live and grow inside us. We can speak our truth, and then we must then be willing to let it go. Have no expectation of what others “should” do… Just let it go. The only thing I have any control over is myself, my choices, my thoughts, my behavior…. Control over how I want to live my life. What I want to transmit to others. How I want others to feel when I am with them or when they think of me.

The Serpent doesn’t look back at his past, rather he sheds his skin, wiggling, working his way free of that which no longer serves him and then taking that opportunity to grow. Just as our past has presented us struggles, hurts and disappointments…Yet when we take an honest look back, we are overwhelmed by gratitude for the plethora of opportunities to grow. These growth opportunities appear, become manifest, when we let go of the past and become fully present. In this moment we can see how all of the struggles of the past have come together to make us this unique expression of the Divine.

Each of those struggles made us who we are today. Some of the greatest teachers in my life have been those that hurt me, because those struggles made me who I am. Hurts can be transformed into amazing gifts that Spirit can use. So Serpent reminds us to set ourselves free. Free from the past, more available for the present, for the opportunities.

One of my favorite stones to wear when I am working to forgive and let go is peridot. Peridot, much like the serpent, teaches that holding onto people and the past is counterproductive. It cleanses and activates the heart and solar plexus; allowing higher energies to come through. Here are a couple of peridot mini-wands on my site. Another great stone for forgiveness, especially forgiving the self, is rose quartz. It is called the stone of unconditional love and infinite peace. It purifies and opens the heart and brings deep healing and love.

A completely different way of forgiving is through visualization or meditation, my wonderful Reiki Teacher and dear sweet friend, Linda Backes has an amazing forgiveness meditation available on her website at www.aradiantlife.com. Her soothing voice and the channeled music will guide you through the steps of forgiveness. Including forgiving yourself, which is an aspect that we so often forget or find difficult.

No matter how you get there, give yourself the gift of forgiveness; allow yourself to feel the freedom that comes from being able to be present in this moment, available for all that life has to offer, available for connection with others and with creation. Freedom to be who you really are.

Much Munay!

IMG_2299